Computer Legend and Gaming Pioneer Jack Tramiel Dies at Age 83

By Miuku.
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Grand Master

Miuku.

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Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International and crucial figure in the early history of personal computing, passed away surrounded by his family on Sunday, his family confirms. He was 83 years old.

Tramiel was born in Poland to a Jewish family in 1928. During World War II, he and his family were sent to Auschwitz, after which he and his father were sent to a labor camp called Ahlem, near Hannover. Tramiel was rescued in April 1945 and emigrated to the United States in 1947. In 1984, after being forced to leave the company he founded, Jack bought the crumbling Atari Inc.?s Consumer Division and formed Atari Corporation.

In America, Tramiel started a typewriter repair business. Staying in the forefront of technology, his typewriters morphed into calculators, and later computers. In 1982, Commodore International launched the Commodore 64, which went on to the best-selling personal computer of all time. Tramiel also founded the Atari Corporation in 1984.

?Jack Tramiel was an immense influence in the consumer electronics and computing industries. A name once uttered in the same vein as Steve Jobs is today, his journey from concentration camp survivor to captain of industry is the stuff of legends,? says Martin Goldberg, a writer working on a book about the Atari brand and the early days of video games and computing with Atari Museum founder Curt Vendel.

?His legacy are the generations upon generations of computer scientists, engineers, and gamers who had their first exposure to high technology because of his affordable computers ? ?for the masses and not the classes.??

Tramiel is survived by his wife Helen, their three sons, Gary, Sam and Leonard, and their extended families.

Source: http://www.forbes.co...dies-at-age-83/

RIP Jack.

In no small part thanks to him I've had some of the fondest computer memories of all time - especially those from the early days of VIC and C64.

Grand Master

FloatingFatMan

Posted
Posted

Atari was before my time so "meh".

Now, if the creator of the original NES died... then we have a problem.

Without the likes of Tramiel, you wouldn't HAVE a computer in your home, let alone video games.

  • remixedcat and TEX4S
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Grand Master

+Nik Louch Subscriber²

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Atari was before my time so "meh".

Wow... Really? So something was before your time and you stop caring? Maybe kids do need spoon-feeding their history these days.

  • TEX4S, FloatingFatMan and Alera
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Grand Master

Miuku.

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Posted

Atari was before my time so "meh".

Now, if the creator of the original NES died... then we have a problem.

You realize Commodore 64 preceded NES by over a year and laid the groundwork for computer gaming? It is, without a doubt, alongside Amiga and Atari ST the biggest reason you are playing games on your PC today - without people like Tramiel none of that would have happened or if it had, it would've happened at a much slower and different pace, most likely much worse.

The guy alongside other "legends" of his time were the people responsible, the catalysts if you will, for what we have today.

Grand Master

Hell-In-A-Handbasket

Posted
Posted

Taken from Gizmodo

The Anti-Steve Jobs Dies: So Long, Jack Tramiel

Jack Tramiel, the antithesis of Steve Jobs, has died. Tramiel was the founder of Commodore. Unlike Jobs, Tramiel believed that computers should be utilitarian and cheap, disregarding elegant design or attention to detail?like the legendary Commodore 64.

While Jobs' sense of aesthetics and obsessive detail permeated everything Apple did, from hardware to software, Tramiel?born Jacek Trzmiel in Lodz, Poland, 1928?didn't give a damn. His only concern was price and making things useful enough to win the battle in the marketplace.

http://gizmodo.com/5900742/the-anti+steve-jobs-dies

Grand Master

Hum

Posted
Posted

Without the likes of Tramiel, you wouldn't HAVE a computer in your home, let alone video games.

Let's not forget a fellow named Thomas Alva Edison -- you wouldn't have your electricity, lights, MP3s, let alone the computers !

You youngan whippersnappers ...

Proficient

The_Decimator

Posted
Posted

Taken from Gizmodo

'The Anti-Steve Jobs Dies: So Long, Jack Tramiel

Jack Tramiel, the antithesis of Steve Jobs, has died. Tramiel was the founder of Commodore. Unlike Jobs, Tramiel believed that computers should be utilitarian and cheap, disregarding elegant design or attention to detail?like the legendary Commodore 64.

While Jobs' sense of aesthetics and obsessive detail permeated everything Apple did, from hardware to software, Tramiel?born Jacek Trzmiel in Lodz, Poland, 1928?didn't give a damn. His only concern was price and making things useful enough to win the battle in the marketplace.'

http://gizmodo.com/5...steve-jobs-dies

The fanboyism is strong in this one. & it's even sadder, cuz, well, no one says, "Boo Commodore, Go Apple!" anymore, but they just HAD to do it...

Grand Master

TEX4S

Posted
Posted

Its always so interesting to read about the guys who were in the trenches when all of this really began.

Then to hear what this guy went through in life, and everything he accomplished. Then to read he died and old man surrounded by his family - Well done, sir. Well done.

Grand Master

Hell-In-A-Handbasket

Posted
Posted

Let's not forget a fellow named Thomas Alva Edison -- you wouldn't have your electricity, lights, MP3s, let alone the computers !

You youngan whippersnappers ...

i would have to say everything electronic i think runs off Tesla's inventions, not edison. as edison has Direct current, Tesla had Alternating

Grand Master

Hell-In-A-Handbasket

Posted
Posted

The fanboyism is strong in this one. & it's even sadder, cuz, well, no one says, "Boo Commodore, Go Apple!" anymore, but they just HAD to do it...

i think they are still mad over the iPhone 4 thing, lol

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